Author Topic: Snow with Vantage Vue  (Read 6445 times)

Denver

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Snow with Vantage Vue
« on: November 22, 2013, 12:48:27 PM »
Just wondering if anything special is required when snowfall occurs.    My setup includes a Davis Vantage Vue, which measures rain but not snow.   So the question is, do I let the snow pile up on the on the unit?    If so, when the snow melts is it logged as rain percipitation on the console?   If so, that would sometimes occur days after the snow event, and would skew the precipitation record in terms of when it occurred.   Just wondering how other folks handle snow events when they have a weather station not specifically designed to measure snow.   Thanks.  Denver

elagache

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Melt it or skip it. (Re: Snow with Vantage Vue)
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2013, 08:41:06 PM »
Hi Denver and WeatherCat fans,

Living in Coastal California I'm hardly the guy to help you, but I can give you a quick summary of the two possible strategies.

One strategy is to add a heater to your collector cone and melt the snow continuously.  Davis sells one for the VP-2, I don't know if they have one out for the Vue.  Actually "pros" prefer to fashion their own heater.  Hopefully someone can direct you on that choice who lives a in colder climate.  Actually there is a thread on rain gauge heaters that is active right now:

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1021.0;topicseen

The other strategy seems counter-intuitive: cap off your rain gauge when the snow really started.  The problem is that snow will become ice, expand, and destroy your rain gauge.  As I said, I don't know which strategy is most popular.  However, I'm sure others will chime in on this topic.

Cheers, Edouard

Denver

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Re: Snow with Vantage Vue
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2013, 09:47:06 PM »
Hi Edouard

Thanks for the reply.  Unfortunately no power where the weather station is located, so a heater is not feasible.   I may just gently slide the snow off the top of the unit after a snowfall.   I can't believe that the Vantage Vue would have trouble with the rain gauge freezing, just gotta believe they designed it better than that...   Anyway, time will tell..

Denver

Blicj11

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Re: Snow with Vantage Vue
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2013, 05:21:15 PM »
Denver:

I live high in the mountains and have had my Vantage Pro2 for 6 years without a heater. Frozen snow/ice has not destroyed anything. I just let it go and when the ice melts, it shows up as rain for that day. Without a heater I don't know of a better alternative.
Blick


Denver

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Re: Snow with Vantage Vue
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2013, 06:38:17 PM »
Blick, that is good to hear.   If you don't have problems in Utah at your elevation, then I should not have any either.  At least one would hope. 

Denver